Minor Complaints/Issues. Anyone else?

[RobbW]

When I picked my i up from the dealer, the maintenance supervisor told me they took the door apart and didn't find anything unusual. He said they made sure everything was tightened up before putting it all back together. Guess I'll just have to find time to take it apart and check it out for myself. I assume there is probably some sort of rubber seal or gasket type of material I can install between the speaker and the frame it mounts to; something to dampen any possible vibration.

Any rattling sound in any vehicle always bugs me. However, hearing it in my brand new i is very frustrating!

 

[siai47]

I've given up on the door panel vibration for now. Both of my I's do it. The "fixes" I have done to date only increased the strength of the bass which didn't really affect the problem. The fequencies that excite the panel are higher then low bass but are still coming out of the door speaker. For now, when listening to voice (news, talk, etc.) I just crank the bass down to -6 and live with it. In a few days, I am going to get a can of sealing foam and foam the back of the panel to see if I can make it ridgid enought to stop the vibration.

 

[MLucas]

I have a rattle in the dash area behind the instrument cluster. Just started out of the blue about two weeks ago. Can't seem to locate it to save my life. Every little bump makes it rattle but pounding on the dash panel and tugging on components under the dash produce nothing. I even took the instrument cluster out and shook it with no rattle, its not that. But, no problem with the speakers either and I listen to plenty of news broadcast. I hope your i's just have bad speakers.

 

[aarond12]

I used a little silicon caulking around the speaker. Works wonders.

 

[Don]

Guess I'll just have to find time to take it apart and check it out for myself. I assume there is probably some sort of rubber seal or gasket type of material I can install between the speaker and the frame it mounts to; something to dampen any possible vibration.

I'd try swapping the front speakers, left for right and see what happens. Once the door panels are off, they just unplug, then twist to remove - Wouldn't take a minute to swap them

Don

 

[RobbW]

Thanks, Don. I'll try that when I get a chance. So, the speakers just twist out? They're not screwed in place? Maybe that's the problem?

 

[Don]

Yup - No screws, just twist and pull. They are pretty well gasketed to prevent vibrations though. It's a neat mounting system . . . . think you'll agree once you check it out

Don

 

[jaraczs]

I have a rattle in the dash area behind the instrument cluster.

I used to have rattle coming from the small plastic cover between the dash and driver side triangle window. A few pushes here and there fixed the problem.
Regarding speaker's vibration, I have no problems on my ES model.

 

[jaraczs]

Speaking of corrosion, I have checked under the vehicle some 5 months after buying my iMiEV and discovered some corrosion at the front axle. Dealer told me this is a normal condition and after escalating the case to the corporate Mitsubishi USA, I have got the same response.
I will brush the rust with metal brush and spray with rubber paint.

 

[fjpod]

I would call that patina.

 

[MLucas]

I would call that patina.

If you look closer, it's also on the lower control arms and most anything painted black underneath the car. I also found paint peeling from these steel surfaces and more corrosion. I've gone through most of the undercarriage, brushing off any rust I have found and coated with primer and rubberized paint. If you live in an area where salt is put on the roads during the winter time, it would pay to lift the vehicle and inspect it. Unless you are on a lease and don't plan on keeping the car beyond that. I've purchased mine, I plan to keep it for a long time. I'm thinking it might be my son's first car when he turns 17-18 in 10 - 11 years. With a degraded battery he won't be able to go too far.

 

[RobbW]

Okay, so now you people are starting to get me paranoid. Is this something I really need to be concerned about? I live in the Chicagoland area where we can get some harsh winters, and municipalities are pretty liberal with their salt applications. This has never been a concern of mine with any other car I have ever owned. It's never been a problem, either. I'm sure if I inspected the undercarriage of any of the cars I have owned, I'd find plenty of corrosion. Is the miev somehow more susceptible to corrosion? Will it affect it's feeble structure and frame more than a heavier vehicle?

 

[fjpod]

I would not be concerned. But you have the right to be if you want to.

Front end parts are not meant to be painted with rubberized paint. conceivably if rust or moisture gets under the paint you could be worse off. Let nature take it's course. Front end parts will not rust through...they will just get a patina.

 

[Don]

I live on the Gulf Coast - At my last house (lost to Katrina) the gulf water rose and fell with the tides 50 feet from my garage

I bought an '02 Mazda Protégé 5 and we drove it about 10 years (sold it when we bought the iMiEV) and there was pretty much zero rust under that car when we got rid of it. We loved the car and since they made them only 2 years, we searched until we found an '03 with less than 60K on it. We bought it for $1K more than we sold the first one for . . . . and it had over 125K on it

The '03 we have now we bought from a guy in Chicago. I took my ramps with me when we went to look at the car and EVERYTHING under that car was rusted. Mostly surface rust, but I had some problems removing bolts and such when I did a brake job on it shortly after we bought it

I think after several years in any area where they salt the roads, you're going to find a good bit of rust under most any car - Likely not enough to cause any structural problems, but if you mix salt and water and spray it all over anything made of metal year after year, you're going to see rust . . . . unless it's made of stainless steel. Luckily, most Mazdas come with SS exhaust systems

With a well cared for ICE which you might keep for 15 or 20 years and 250,000 miles, eventually the rust would become problematic, I'm sure . . . . but I doubt many (if any) of us will still be driving this car 15 years from now, so I don't think you have anything to lose sleep over, Robb. You're probably not even going to need brakes while you own it, so rusty nuts and bolts won't affect your maintenance of the car a great deal

Don

 

[siai47]

Like I have said before, my brand new I-MiEV has rust on many of the same parts that are being referred to. I don't see any real problem with the car except cosmetic damage. People (like me) who put their cars on a lift and inspect for this kind of stuff will find it on any car operated in salt conditions---be that winter or coastal. You will also find it on cars operated on unpaved roads, especially on roads were chloride is used for dust control. The only thing you can do is to keep the underbody flushed with soapy water during the periods that it is exposed to salt. In addition, a through cleaning each Spring will help a lot. The I-MiEV body itself appears to have a very good primer system that should last the life of the car. It's the "black" painted parts where the problem lies--I'm not sure exactly what those parts are coated with but it is an unusual paint. It gets very chalky in appearance. It doesn't seem to stick in areas around welds. Fortunately the black parts are fairly thick structural parts that would take a long time to corrode through even if they had no paint. My only area of concern is the traction battery support frame. It is coated with this same black paint and unlike the other parts painted the same way, it is made up of thin sheet metal parts. To make matters worse, it is covered by the plastic underbody shields which trap any corrosive crud between the shields and the battery support frame which creates a breeding place for corrosion. If you wanted to be proactive, you should remove these panels each Spring and possibly apply some extra paint to the sheet metal parts after cleaning both the supports and the shields. I would also recommend using some product like "Saltaway" mixed with rinse water to neturalize the chloride in the salt residue. Doing the above is important for the long life of any car, but the I-MiEV needs some special care in a couple of areas.

 

[aarond12]

I might also add that my ES has some "rust droppings" from the rear liftgate. When I got the car, I noticed some small rust flakes (1mm in size each, approximately) on the top of the rear bumper. They removed the flakes easily and I took my car. I've noticed after a good washing that those "rust droppings" reappear on the top of the rear bumper. I hope there's not too much corrosion on the lower lip of the rear liftgate.

I live in Dallas, Texas -- far away from the rust belt. We don't use salt on our roads in the winter, only sand.

 

[MLucas]

I might also add that my ES has some "rust droppings" from the rear liftgate. When I got the car, I noticed some small rust flakes (1mm in size each, approximately) on the top of the rear bumper. They removed the flakes easily and I took my car. I've noticed after a good washing that those "rust droppings" reappear on the top of the rear bumper. I hope there's not too much corrosion on the lower lip of the rear liftgate.

I live in Dallas, Texas -- far away from the rust belt. We don't use salt on our roads in the winter; only sand.

You also may want to look inside your liftgate to see if any corrosion is visible. I've never had this problem with my car and I do live in the rust belt. There are small vents in the bottoms of all doors and hatches to let moisture escape. These should never be blocked or corrosion definitely will take hold. For those of us in these rusty areas, those holes should be checked periodically and ensure they are open.

In your case, this could be due to moisture or condensation forming inside the liftgate and causing corrosion on some internal part. I had a Dodge Shadow back in the late 80s when I was stationed at Norton AFB in San Bernardino, California. The spare tire well in the trunk used to fill up with water just from condensation. I found using spray on undercoating did the trick to keep the condensation from forming. Not saying this is it, but something that comes to mind when you see rust drops after a washing.

 

[jray3]

On the forged suspension components, I'd call it just cosmetic, though I would want to touch up the pressed steel parts (and wonder why Mitsu has bad black paint). In the good old aircooled days, stingy Germans would supposedly mix leftover paints together to get the black used on VW floor pans and suspension parts, hence varying levels of gloss, but it was almost always durable!

 

[NeilBlanchard]

You could coat those things with petroleum jelly, or general purpose grease? Use a small brush, to work it in and you'll probably stop the corrosion.

 

[sandange]

In our neck of the rust belt, they often use a wax oil hybrid treatment , sticks better.
It's recommended to apply it annually in the fall.